Who are you in this story?

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%208,%20Mark%202&version=NIV
Today I’d like for us to focus on the story of Jesus calling Levi in Mark 2:13-17. Hear we find Jesus doing exactly what defines his very character and makes him look so very different from the other religious leaders of the time. He is eating with ‘sinners’. It is in this story (vs. 17) that we hear the words that are so beautiful because they are Jesus open invitation for us to eat with him – “I have not come to call the righteous, but the sinners”.

As I read this story today, I have shoes on my mind - maybe since I’m writing after I’ve been shopping and I’m such a girl! Or maybe because as I read the story I wondered whose shoes I was wearing the story – those of sinner? Or have I put myself in the shoes of the Pharisee? And could it be that Jesus might allow me to try on his shoes? So I ask you this - Whose shoes do you see yourself wearing in this story?

I think certainly we can and all do answer that we wear the shoes of the sinner, for we belong at the table of the sinners. But perhaps you find yourself in the sinner’s shoes and have not yet come to the table. The shoes you wear are comfortable, but they are old, and ugly, and they are beginning to smell. If you wear these shoes, you need to know today that Christ invites you to come to his table, to remove your shoes and allow him to wash your feet. He doesn’t ask you to clean up first, he just says come. Nothing you have or will do make you unfit for his table. Maybe I need to say that again – there is NOTHING that will keep Jesus from welcoming you to his table. Indeed, he says, “Here I am, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me” – Revelations 3:20.

Do you know what I love most about the fact that Jesus was eating with the sinners? Eating together was considered at His time to be a sign of friendship. Not only does Jesus invite you to his table, but he invites you as a friend. In fact, he came for that very purpose – to call the sinners. He invites you to eat with him and into a friendship that expects nothing, but instead offers unconditional love and acceptance. I wonder if that this very fact is why it’s hard for us to accept the invitation – because it is so amazing and unheard of. Human relationships almost always come with conditions. Relationship with Christ comes with none. He doesn’t expect us to bring anything to the meal, but offers to fill us completely on the only thing that satisfies – His love. We only must accept the invitation.

But perhaps your come to the table and have be eating with the Lord for a long while now. Could it be that Jesus is calling you to try on his shoes? They are humble work shoes – built to go the distance. They are the shoes of one who plays the role of the courier – one who will go out and invite sinners to the table. They are the shoes of one who will deliver the message of the gospel to those who have not heard. Is it time to put on the shoes of Jesus and through his power go out?

And I think we all have to check with ourselves to be certain we are wearing shoes at all. Maybe you’ve sat at the table, got comfortable, took your shoes off and then walked away from the table without any. Maybe you are like the Pharisees and you’ve been walking around without shoes because you quite frankly don’t see the need for them. Life is a beach, the ocean is your world, and your toes are in the sand. But maybe you forget that there are dangerous things hiding in the sand, that if you step but one foot off of the beach the pavement is so hot it will fry your feet. And foolishly you’ve forgotten that the winter is coming. Perhaps it is time to recognize your need for shoes and return to the table. Perhaps it is time to accept the invitation to stand firm with feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace (Eph. 6:15).

The most beautiful part about this whole story is it doesn’t matter which pair of shoes you find yourself wearing today – the invitation is open for you. Whether you are coming to the table for the first time, or getting ready to accept the challenge to invite others to come, or recognizing that the table of sinners is where you still belong, the invitation is always open.

I pray, sweet friends, that if you have not accepted the invitation to sit at the table with Jesus, that today would be the day that you do. I pray for those of us who have accepted the invitation, that we would welcome and embrace those who walk into the church to sit at the table with us. I pray that we would put an arm around them, eat with them, and call them friend as Jesus did. Lest we should forget, we share the table with them.

“Blessed are the poor in spirit (the spiritually needy), for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn (over their sins), for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek (humble), for they will inherit the earth.” – Matthew 5:3-5

Today's post was submitted by Carol Bartels. The parenthesis in the last scripture are mine, added to aid in understanding/interpretation.